With the onset of April and until autumn, many blood-sucking insects appear in forests and parks. Tick bites cause fatal diseases in humans. It is too expensive and dangerous for nature to sprinkle all the greenery with poison, so scientists are looking for ways to get rid of bloodsuckers by a biological method. Here the question arose whether ants and ticks can exist together or whether they are enemies.
Do ants eat ticks
Forest view is a hunter. One anthill cleans pests of forest area of 0.2 hectares. It collects caterpillars, slugs, midges and many other harmful inhabitants of the forest. Therefore, arthropod attracted the attention of scientists who decided to find out whether ants eat ticks or not.
On a note!
Many biologists have stated that it makes no sense to experiment, because bloodsuckers are not considered "orderlies of the forest" as food.
Scientists still decided to find out how formic acid affects ixodid ticks. It turned out that the bites of the former caused the death of the latter. Biologists noted the fact that where there are no ticks, ants and the number of parasites increases with distance from the ant nest. Therefore, it can be argued that forest ants affect the number of bloodsuckers.
Can ticks parasitize on ants
It happens that ants against ticks are powerless. One of the species of tick-saprotrophs brings beneficial insects to death, clinging to their body. Parasite nymphs attach to adult individuals and sometimes their number is so large that the worker stops moving.
On a note!
Saprotrophs often settle in formicaria or on ant farmheld by insect lovers at home.
The pest clings tightly enough, and even after molting, its shell remains hanging on the ant body. Collections from the colony can be separated from the “affected” skin, but they are powerless against the insect itself. This happens because the nymph has protection methods:
- her body is slippery;
- paws tenacious;
- the parasite itself is agile and quickly runs away from ants.
Saprotroph multiplies at high speed, and nymphs cover the chitinous membrane of the worker, clogging his spiracles and fettering movement. The entire colony soon dies because of this enemy.
Interesting!
In tropical countries, there is another original Cordyceps parasite, which literally turns ants into zombies.
Species of ants and there are many ticks in nature. Sometimes the former destroy the latter, and sometimes the latter win the battle. It all depends on the place of the "battle" - in nature or formicaria. In the natural environment, they fight against parasites by mowing the lawns, collecting fallen leaves, and removing garbage. Land owners must also keep their territory clean.
